The ability to lockably secure two structures together to permit or prevent relative movement therebetween has been a goal of many locking systems. A plethora of different locking mechanisms have been developed over the course of history. These include key actuated locks, combination locks, code activated locks and the like.
Many types of locks are associated with doors in order to selectively lock a door in a closed position. Authorized personnel are provided with a key or combination to the lock so that they may selectively unlock the door and move it to an open position. In some instances, doors are locked in such a way as to allow monitored access. Here, a guard monitors the door to an entryway. When an authorized person seeks access, the guard initializes a switch which deactivates the lock so that the door can be opened. Such systems are often employed at offices for controlling employee access, in apartments, wherein a tenant may initialize a switch that deactivates the locking device to allow entrance of a guest into the building and other related applications.
One type of electrically controlled lock employs an electromagnet that is typically mounted to a door casing. A ferromagnetic armature is attached to the door and positioned so as to come in contact with the electromagnet device on the casing. The electromagnet is of such strength that a person may not readily open the door when the electromagnet is activated due to the strength of the magnetic attraction of the electromagnet for the armature. As security interests have heightened, it has become increasingly desirable that greater force be provided for these magnetic locks to secure the door and the casing. Accordingly, the strength of the electromagnets has been proportionately increasing. Such increase in strength, however, is not without its drawbacks. While some technological advances have been made in materials, it has been the usual case that increasing the strength of the electromagnet results in utilizing increasingly higher gauss magnets. This naturally increases the cost of the magnet as well as power consumption should the magnet be continuously energized with access being granted by de-energizing the magnet. In addition to these disadvantages, increasing the size of the electromagnet increases the size of the assembly secured to the door casing.
The present invention addresses these disadvantages by providing an electromechanical locking system and method that utilizes an electromagnet in conjunction with mechanical structure to accomplish the selective locking of two structures together. Thus, it is able to provide a high strength of resistant to breach while at the same time reducing the size of the electromagnetic device.